Friday, May 30, 2014

Gracing the Hope and Joy of Waiting - Hope Chest Treasures

A friend of mine blogged this morning that she titled, “Dreaming & Planning for the Future – Items to Put in a HopeChest.”  I started to comment on her blog and pretty soon found that she had inspired me so much that I had quite written a whole blog post myself and so, decided to add it here on my Inspirations of My Heart blog.

I had a hope chest once. For my birthday one year when I was in high school, my mom bought me a large whicker chest. I didn’t have a real large variety of items in it when I got married, but what I did have was special.  What I had was a large set of dishes that I had fun getting piece by piece. They were a grocery store marketing set from A.J. Bayless. For every so much money a customer spent, they would get a stamp that you would affix to a card. When you filled up the card, you could get a dinner plate, a cup and saucer. I had collected a set of about 12.



It was so enjoyable to watch my collection grow over time. However, after I was married, my mother had given me her large Pfaltzgraff tea rose set and I had lost interest in the tulip design of the dishes I had collected. My mother-in-law seemed to really love the dishes, so, I took them to her on my first trip to Mexico with my new husband.

The other item I remember having in my hope chest was a letter written by my mom to my future husband. It was a very sweet letter and I still have it. She wrote it when I was in baking a lemon meringue pie for my Home Ec class when I was in Junior High. I guess this will give you an idea just how hopelessly sentimental I am!

After I was married, my mom gave me many things that she no longer used as did a few of the older sisters from our church. And, as time went on, the Lord has provided all the things that I needed and so much more!

Today, I am feeling somewhat melancholy – maybe even a bit weepy. You see, today my baby has turned 13 – no longer a child. I am now the mother of one adult and three teenagers. However, I am counting my blessings today because the Lord has blessed me tremendously with these awesome and wonderful young people who I still call… my children!!! They are so diverse from one another, yet so much fun and they bring me such joy!

Among these, the Lord has blessed me to be the mother of three lovely daughters. My oldest has a hope chest as well. She uses an old beat up green trunk that we have stored in the garage. My next daughter has been storing items in a drawer for the time being and my youngest doesn’t have one… yet.

I have thought about what items should be in a hope chest. I suppose certain factors such as how much room you have to store items would influence what you would collect. There is a family that is very dear to me that my family and I like to visit. They always go so completely out of their way to really made us feel so welcome and loved! One evening their children and mine all but kicked me and their mother out of the kitchen and so, she and I decided to go to town and have our OWN adventures shopping. When we came home, the house was filled with tantalizing, mouth watering smells, and the table! The table was set for all 14 of us and lovingly, beautifully placed with one of their daughter’s fine china that she has been collecting for her hope chest. Her china doesn’t fit in her hope chest which is an old steamer trunk that she and her dad lined. She keeps in in a big plastic bin. Her china wasn’t very fancy, but it was very elegant and I decided then, that if I can, I would like to see my daughters be able to have a china set for their hope chests… even if it doesn’t fit! I’m still working on that one.

Among other necessary basic items that would be needed to start a home, I have listed some ideas to grace the hope and joy of waiting for that very special day:

v    A china set J
v    Very special family heirlooms
v    Handmade items such as
o      a crocheted doily
o      needlework
o      a quilt
o      pillowcases
o      aprons
v    Pictures for my daughters to start their own scrapbook albums
v    An organized recipe book with recipes handed down from family members or simply the tried and true recipes we use often in our family
v    Even special items for their future children.
o      I have a rubber maid box for each of my children containing a few clothes that they wore when they were babies, their blankies, etc. My mom had saved some of the clothes that I had wore and I thought it was so special to put them on my own babies. I still have my clothes, and, someday, I may part them out to each of my children for their children.

o      I have been finding particular books that have been extra special to me when I was young to give to them so that they may teach their children diligently the way in which they should go. 




1 comment:

  1. I remember the name AJ Bayless but can't remember what it looked like. Amazing how many grocery stores come and go.

    How sweet of your mother to write a letter. That's special you still have it.

    (It was fun seeing a picture of your first set of dishes.)

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